On the morning before Charlotte Gong’s engagement luncheon, Rune rides alone into the capital to meet Gideon Sharpe, keeping her destination secret. She ties up Lady in an Old Town stable, then makes her way through the busy, sooty outer-ward streets, wondering why someone as celebrated as Gideon still lives in such a worn neighborhood.

At 113 Prudence Street, Rune realizes she has arrived at “The Sharpe Duet: Tailoring and Dressmaking,” Gideon’s family shop. Gideon brings her inside the dark, boarded-up space, where his parents’ tools and fabrics sit untouched. He presents his “solution” for her: detailed sketches of a stunning custom gown he intends to make for Rune to wear to the Luminaries Dinner, but he says he needs her measurements first.

Rune’s excitement turns cautious when she suspects Gideon is using the measurement fitting to search for casting scars. Confident she has none, Rune agrees and undresses to her underwear, teasing Gideon’s sudden embarrassment as he tries to keep his eyes on her face. He measures her efficiently and professionally, avoiding unnecessary contact, while Rune studies him and the rough, capable hands that match his violent reputation.

As Gideon works, he reveals pieces of his history with Cressida Roseblood: he only ever took Cressida’s measurements, and he once served tea at Thornwood Hall during one of her parties, when he says he was being “punished” for “neglecting” his duties. Rune probes further, asking what Cressida was like, and Gideon describes her as beautiful, alluring, and powerful in a way that makes Rune uneasy and more wary of what he may have learned from closeness to a witch queen.

Gideon finally explains Cressida through a metaphor: like a pitcher plant, she lured people in with beauty and temptation and then revealed her cruelty when it was too late. He ends by telling Rune that Cressida would draw you close and then “eat you alive,” leaving Rune with a clearer sense of Gideon’s haunted past and the dangerous intimacy that may still shape his suspicions and choices.